L.L. Bean Backpacks Are For Trusting Souls

Reader j. sent us the above scan of a page from an L.L. Bean catalog. j. says:

Look where L L Bean advises you to keep your phones and gadgets!

They’re such trusting souls, storing their gadgets outside their backpacks for the whole world to steal. No wonder this is probably the worst complaint we’ve ever gotten about L.L. Bean. They’re obviously just too nice. Good for them.

Maine. The state where you can leave the heat on in the car while you run into the convenience store, and still expect to still have a car when you get back. Yes, we’re just that trusting. And for the most part, that trust is respected. The local news is so subdue, the biggest stories we are likely to have is that snowmobile accidents were high this winter at around 25. We tend to be a lot more suspicious when we see a lot of out of state license plates around though.

If you’re ever up in the area, do your self a favor and stop at the L.L. Bean store. They’ve got trout swimming indoors right along the isles, and “fish pond” does not begin to describe it. L.L. Bean is the best thing to come out of Maine since lobster.

@AceKicker: I’ve had my eye on a bag from L.L. Bean for a while now- I like the simple functionality of their designs and products. I just can’t convince myself to spend the amount they want on shipping to Canada. In the case I do pick it up, I certainly won’t keep my cell phone in the outside pocket.

@snoop-blog: I grew up in a very small town where people routinely left their keys in their cars — and it was not necessarily bad manners to borrow a friend’s car without asking, as long as you were quick and put it back roughly where you found it. Had anyone attempted to take advantage of this system and steal one of the cars, both car and thief would’ve been recognized quickly on the street. And probably waved to. It was too small a town, in many respects.

L.L. Bean is a fantastic company. I’ve bought a lot of hiking/outdoors clothing and equipment from them over the years, had to negotiate a couple of returns, and they’ve never been less than polite, swift and efficient.

@boss_lady: It might be worth it in the long run. I believe they have lifetime guarantees on their bags. I know of people who had back packs from high school that they exchanged for new ones when they wore out 8 -10 years later.

It’s common practice in advertising to put all kinds of things in every pocket imaginable before snapping the picture. Ever see the Lands’ End briefcase in their catalog? Now that was a joke. (Great bag, stupid photos.)

You know you grew up in New England when, the first thing you think of when you see this is “why would I buy a new LL Bean backpack, the one I got in 6th grade is still in great shape.” That was 17 years ago!! Seriously awesome company.

@Spaceman Bill Leah: I’m going to throw in a Jansport back-pack plug here. I bought mine during my freshman year of college in late 1997 and it’s STILL going strong. No tears, rips, holes, anything. I only use it now when I go on trips, but it’s been FANTASTIC. I think I paid $60 for it at the time of purchase.

Hmm. I could get away with this if I wanted. I carry my bag a block on a non-busy street from my car to work. Otherwise it mostly travels from the curb or driveway of private homes inside, then back out.

Not *everyone* is wearing their backpack on crowded public transit for hours each day.

For a minute I had LL Bean mixed up with Land’s End. I though Consumerist had gone nuts saying this was the worst complaint, completely forgetting the association with Sears/KMart… then I realized it’s just me.

Really depends on the situation. I went to a high school where you could literally leave everything you owned in the middle of the hallway, and nothing would be touched except the pens/pencils – which would be immediately borrowed

Additionally, L.L. Bean’s return/fix policy is fantastic. My dad bought a jacket there in the 1980s. 20 years later, the lining is work and the zipper doesn’t work – he brings it in, they fix it up good as new for free.

@AceKicker: Reminds me of when I was younger and we would go to the U.P. and visit grandma, we would pack snow over our license plate so they wouldn’t know we were from out-of-state. They would do shit to out-of-state cars, well, just because.

I am ‘J’ and I agree, in most parts of MAINE you can do such naive things, the parts with out all tourists. I don’t live in Maine and I leave my keys in my truck ALL the time. I was just kinda shocked that someone didn’t catch that photo.

@MissPeacock: I’ll back you on the Jansport packs. I had one for 7 years (4 in college, 3 of work), heavy use, carried full loads easily 20+ pounds daily in school. I carried it single strap, alternating each semester for my back, and never had a strap problem. I had to toss it b/c the zipper teeth finally wore down so much that they’d pull apart at the top of the bag. Still have the wife’s pack from 1992 that I told her to get at the time. $60 well spent on a padded back and leather bottom pack. I also have a Samsonite, Ogio, and an eBags that I like very much, although they do not see the use my old Jansport had.

LL Bean does make some quality gear. And yeah, I’ve actually seen people walking around with calculators, keys and cells in the mesh pouches of their bags at college in the past few years. Way back when I was in jr high, I got a bag that had pencil slots on the outside. First thing I though was that I’d never make it to my locker before the pencils got stolen – or if I’d even make it inside the building, for that matter.

@SoulgenesisThey do have lockers but they have tons of homework they have to carry home. Last year my daughter brought home 3 huge books everynight. My son is supposed to but I rarely see his. Unfortunately, the rolling bookbags aren’t “cool”. I just ordered a Jansport so I am glad to hear the reviews. Old Navy is also very sturdy.

@Spaceman Bill Leah: Yes. I actually bought a new one when a single zipper wore out on my old one after 10 years, even though they offer the lifetime replacement warranty, because I felt like, dammit, I used it every day, and 4 years of high school, 4 years of college, 2 years of lawschool, 2 continents, 11 countries, and 3 cars later, I HAD GOTTEN MY $48.50 WORTH AND THEY DESERVED MY DAMN MONEY FOR A NEW ONE.

I also have an Eddie Bauer flannel shirt that’s still with me, that has been on a similar life/world tour. Only I didn’t wear it daily after grunge went out. :D But it’s been a raincoat, blanket, pillow, sweater, hobo carryall, collared shirt to tour the cathedrals of Europe ….

Technically, I already gave it away my orange manbag. Not because it was orange and awesome, but because there’s just something unmanly about cute cashiers asking me where I bought my purse, or when your friend’s girlfriend buys one in a different color.

@JerBearHtL42: I live in Maine, too. Lock my car and house… And just in case some would-be thieves think that Maine is easy pickins, most locals have at least one type of gun in their house (if they live north of Portland).

@Marshfield: I remember camping once as a kid. Once. I went to go do my ‘business’ in the bushes and ending up not squatting/positioning myself right (I’m a girl) and proceeded to pee down my leg and soak my slouch sock. Thank god they were orange…

I used to live next to an LL Bean outlet. They had a big clearance sale, on some items. I noticed a nice GoreTex XCR jacket that usually sold for $345 had been marked down to like $68. I went to the register, it rang up at like $200. Manager looks at the tag, and the rack of jackets, and says, oh, those are in the wrong place, but gives me the jacket at 68. And then helps me snag 6 others, at the same price, that I ebayed.

People “down East” are just unbelievably trusting. I wanted to buy a bunch of local pottery from a store on North Haven Island during one visit, but I didn’t have my checkbook with me and the ATM wouldn’t be open before the ferry left. The store’s owner just said, “Oh, mail us a check when you get back home.” And no, she didn’t write down my bank or driver’s license number or anything. Just let me walk out of her store with $150 worth of stuff on a wink and a promise.

Of course, I mailed her the check. I also sent her note asking her to please NEVER visit Philadelphia (where I live), because I would hate to see what would happen when such a trusting soul met people living in the urban world.

@Superawesomerad: & as an expatriate, i think i can speak for (most) maniacs by saying, “thanks for visiting our coast, not straying west of the turnpike, nor north of bar harbor & feel free to leave the way you came, twice as fast as you got here.”

My linegar bag’s an L.L. Bean. When i was back east not long ago, my mom and i made the pilgrimage to Freeport, and i enjoyed showing off my 12-year-old bag to the Customer Service desk, replete with my name embroidered on it. They enjoyed it too.

If you know what happens to a gear bag in the telecom world, on top of it serving me through undergrad, grad, and 2 years in the real world, you know what an awesome product they make.

LL Bean will give refunds for anything at anytime. EXCEPT (coincidentally to this article) BACKPACKS. It seems people in the colleges in Maine would steal other students’ backpacks and take them back to the store for cash. So they started requiring receipts for refunds because of this ‘trend’!

Oh, and another wacky thing about LL Bean. As I said, you can return anything at any time. However they offer a service where you send your old, worn out, stinky Bean Boots back to them and pay to have either the tops replaced or the bottoms. So now you have a pair of 10 year old tops with new soles, or destroyed old rubber bottoms with shiny new leather tops.

Hey, either return them for free if they are defective, or buy a shiny new pair, but don’t replace HALF of your boot!

Actually, L.L. Bean backpacks can be very secure. Their pockets have double zippers that easily accomodate padlocks even heavier than the ones that come with your luggage!
…Yes, I have done this. I was in Honduras. …Yes, people made fun of me. …You’re going to make fun of me now too, aren’t you?

@Snakeophelia: I dunno. Most people are decent enough that if you show them kindness it’ll be returned. I’d venture that even in any major city, if you asked a random person to mail you a check for some merchandise you sold them, they’d do it. It’s like what you tell your kid if they get lost: walk up to the first nice looking (lady) person you see…don’t wait for someone to notice you look lost and offer to help.

Now, if if you advertise the fact that people can leave with merchandise and ‘just mail in a check’ you’ll get thieves no matter where you are.

L.L. Bean is awesome and stands by their stuff. FWIW, Lands End has the same sort of no-questions-asked-return-it-anytime policy and is great to deal with.